3 Books & Counting…
Written by The City Bin Co.’s Oisin Browne, Author of ‘The Binman’s Guide’ business book series.
English grammar was never my strong point, so I would have never handpicked myself to write business books. Everything was against me, from my short attention span to my mild dyslexia. If I was told in 2010 that I would write and publish three books over the next ten years I wouldn’t have believed it! Roll on November 2020 on the month of the launch of my third book and I am quietly content with this unexpected journey so far. Yes, I can tick the box as an author, but more importantly, I have grown professionally and personally as a result of committing to writing the three books.
Through writing, rewriting, and editing, going back and forth with an editor, my grammar, thankfully has improved over time. I wanted to write business books that would be an easy read and a solid introduction for people starting in business or people in a business that wanted a refresher that would inspire new ideas that they could apply to their own situation.
Not alone would my grammar improve, but a great plus of writing a book is the learning that comes from researching and studying the topic of the book. With all three books containing interviews from business owners on their success and learnings, this gave me an opportunity to get an in-depth insight into successful businesses. In many ways, writing each book was kin to doing a university business Masters on the subject. With this book-writing journey came a professional speaking experience where I was invited to speak to universities, businesses, and conferences to talk on the topic of the books. Also, I did a lot of interviews with local and national journalists and was featured on radio and television shows. These experiences helped me become confident in public speaking and sharpened my communication skill.
In hindsight, while I had my personal flaws that gave me indications that writing books would be a tough and near-impossible task for me, I can now see the two main elements I unknowingly applied to my writing journey that made it possible for the three books to be completed and published. They were my long-term intentions and my tunnel vision stubbornness that I used to fuel my commitment.
I am a dreamer. I love to dream big and do a lot of future planning, you know, that question; ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now?’ From the start, my intention was to write 3 business books over a period of 10 years to inspire and give ideas to people interested in developing their sales and marketing game. In setting the bar at 3 books it allowed me to aim high and fall far. I told everybody my intention as I knew my closest colleagues would hold me accountable and I committed to doing all three books and seeing it through.
It has always given me a great sense of accomplishment to have one of my finished books in my hands. One of my big learnings is that accomplishments don’t appear out of thin air. Accomplishments are the result of a commitment to follow-through. The process of writing a book is sometimes a lonely solitary experience that entails many months of research, writing, and editing, while the launch of the book is a party, with a book launch, reading sessions, radio interviews, workshops, and lots of promotional events!
I remember in 2012 at a marketing meeting throwing out the idea of writing a series of thought leadership books for The City Bin Co., as a way to create content for the brand and to help place the brand in a different space than the competitors. I knew I could write as I had been writing a column in the business section of the local paper The Galway Advertiser sharing business ideas and inspirations. But I never thought to take on a project so big. I didn’t think I’d be able, but I was willing to give it a go.
I felt enthused to apply my skills as a writer and to exercise my creativity for the company that I worked for. I decided I would share my experiences and ideas over 3 books and stick to the areas that I was confident with and where I had the most knowledge. They were Selling, Marketing, and Customer Service. From 2003 to 2012 I worked as part of the sales team in The City Bin Co. I was a Sales representative managing the B2B portfolio for many years in Galway before moving onto the role of Social Media Manager and setting up the Social Media channels and working with the team on large marketing campaigns as the company expanded into the Dublin market. My experience during this time helped sculpt the content of the first two books on the subject of Selling and Marketing.
My new book ‘The Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ was always going to be part of this collection as it is what I have known and learned for the last 22 years working with The City Bin Co. I never just worked for a company that provided a waste collection service, skips, and bins. More than that, I worked for a company where the culture always guided and supported me to provide an excellent experience to the customers.
It is a proud moment in my book writing experience to hold this book in my hands, as this was the book that I was always waiting to write and publish. This was to be the defining book in the collection. And it is. However, this will not be the last book as I have definitely got the writing bug. I am already committed to writing my fourth business book. So, it’s three books and counting! While this book on ‘Amazing Customer Service’ will be a tough act to follow, I believe what makes the subject of this book important is that everything in business ultimately comes back to one thing; the Customer, and the desire to give the customer an amazing Customer Service.
It’s such a great feeling to launch a body of work that helps business owners and employees tune into their own customer service and explore how they can turn the dial just a little, or maybe a lot, to make it an amazing experience for their customers.
